Solid State Lighting & Energy Electronics Center

The Solid State Lighting & Energy Electronics Center (SSLEEC) at UC Santa Barbara is a new collaborative center, which partners key industry leaders and UCSB researchers to advance solid-state lighting and energy efficient power switching using wide-bandgap semiconductors.

SSLEEC is focused on new semiconductor based technologies for energy efficient lighting, power electronics, and bulk growth of Gallium Nitride (GaN). The objective of the SSLEEC is to provide a forum for its members - key industry partners and the faculty and student researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara - to work in collaboration and across scientific disciplines to address the most challenging problems in these important and timely areas of research.

The transition from incandescent and fluorescent lighting to high-efficiency solid-state based lighting is picking up steam. However, key challenges persist, including efficiency droop at high current densities and temperatures and availability of large-area bulk GaN substrates at a variety of crystal orientations. SSLEEC continues to push the frontier with new developments in semi-polar and non-polar GaN devices, innovation in high-efficiency laser-based lighting, and exploration of novel methods for bulk crystal growth.

Electrical power is used inefficiently in cell phones, computers, appliances, automobiles, industrial equipment, and power distribution systems account for a tremendous waste of energy. New transistors based on gallium nitride (GaN) and related alloys offer a route to cut this waste significantly, providing energy savings compared to those expected from solid-state lighting. Researchers in the SSLEEC pioneered GaN based power transistors and continue to lead the world with new discoveries and inventions.

Under the leadership of Professors Steven DenBaars and Shuji Nakamura, Umesh Mishra and Jim Speck, SSLEEC has established one of the most unique and successful business models among universities and industry partners. Over the past 6 years, SSLEC produced a key patent portfolio of >150 patents. The center has produced 430+ publications since 2007.

About this series: We take light for granted, but more than two billion people in the world go through their entire lives without reliable lighting. But that is changing, thanks in part to the brilliant discovery of UC Santa Barbara's Shuji Nakamura. This four-part series, made possible by UC Santa Barbara's Solid State Lighting and Energy Center, tells the story of Nakamura's determined effort to develop the white LED and the revolution in lighting that his discovery has brought to the world.

In this episode of Lighting the World - after years of effort, Shuji Nakamura discovers the breakthrough that enables the creation of the white-light emitting LED, unleashing a revolution in the way the world uses light and power.

Brilliant Discovery UCTV has released the second episode of its four-part series, "Lighting the World: Shuji Nakamura and His Brilliant Discovery", telling the story of the UC Santa Barbara professor's efforts to develop the white LED and the lighting revolution that followed. The new segment introduces viewers to Nakamura and explores the genesis of his quest.